Phoneme. Allophone. Speech sound

1.

PHONEME
ALLOPHONE
SPEECH SOUND

2.

PHONEME
LANGUAGE
(identify mistakes and slips in pronunciation)
ALLOPHONE
NORM
(give distinctive and non-distinctive features of the
vowel / consonant;
comment on the realization in the particular word)
SPEECH SOUND
SPEECH
(describing character’s speech in the authentic text)

3.

As was stated earlier, speech is a continuum of
units.
The segments of speech (phonemes realized through
allophones) are joined into structural units
(starting with syllables and higher to words,
phrases sentences) to create meaning and in
this combination acquire new suprasegmental
characteristics.
Suprasegmental phonetics deals with distinctively
functional units of language.

4.

Suprasegmental phonetics deals with distinctively
functional units of language which are formed
by time, force and pitch components.
Suprasegmental, or prosodic, units are:
syllables, accentual (rhythmic) units, intonation
groups, utterances, which form the subsystem
of pitch, stress, rhythm, tempo, pauses
(distinctive variations in duration, force and
pitch characteristic of units higher than one
word).

5.

The smallest unit of speech is not a speech sound but a syllable
(though sometimes a syllable may consist of one sound only,
e.g. air, ear…).
A syllable is the smallest structural unit of speech.
One of the most difficult and controversial problems in phonetics
is the problem of the syllabic structure of English.
It is approached from 3 points of view:
1) Acoustic (the sonority theory by Jesperson, the “loudness”
theory by Zhinkin).
2) Articulatory (the expiratory theory by Sweet, the muscular
tension theory by Shcherba).
3) Functional (the syllable division theory by F. de Saussure
and others).

6. Word Stress

WORD STRESS
It is greater prominence given to a syllable in
comparison with other syllables in the word.
This prominence is achieved by:
A greater force of articulation
A change in the pitch of the voice
The quality of sounds
The quantity of sounds

7. Word Stress

WORD STRESS
There are certain factors which determine the position and different degree of
word stress:
Recessive tendency (placing the word stress on the initial syllable (words of
Germanic stock, e.g. father, mother) or the root syllable (become, begin).
Rhythmic tendency (altering of stressed and unstressed syllables in time,
e.g. pronunciation, university).
Retentive tendency (retention of the primary stress on the parent word but
more often it is retained as a secondary stress, e.g. similar – similarity).
Semantic factor (the primary stress is given to the most important root in the
word, e.g. farmhouse, grandfather).

8.

Comment on the position of word stress in the
following words:
brother
daughter
psychology
begin
satisfactory
friend — friendly
chauffeur
umbrella
organize — organization
darkroom — dark room

9.

PITCH
is an essential element of the sound system of English.
In terms of pitch parameters the direction of pitch, pitch levels and pitch
ranges are distinguished.
Not all stressed syllables are of equal importance. The nucleus is the main
focus of an intonation pattern. It is a strongly-stressed syllable of an
intonation pattern, characterized by a change in pitch direction (the pitch
goes up or down). While falling tones suggest certainty, completeness,
independence, a rising one expresses uncertainty, incompleteness,
dependence. Static tones are not moveable and convey a reserved
attitude.

10.

SENTENCE STRESS
is a greater prominence given to one or more words in a sense-group in
comparison with other words.
Sentence stress should not be confused with word stress, although
sometimes they may coincide (when speaking about terminal tones
which have word stress by themselves but also carry sentence stress in
a higher structural unit).
Sentence stress is distributed according to the situation and the verbal
context.
If the nucleus of the communicative centre is shifted from the last
notional word to some other – such sentence stress is called logical.
Sentence stress can be emphatic and unemphatic.
Emphatic stress implies the increase of the effort of expression.

11.

PAUSES
A pause is a moment of silence in the flow of speech; it is a complete
stop in phonation.
The term which is closely connected and is often used when researching
pauses is continuity (the incidence of pauses in the stream of speech –
where they come, how frequent they are, and how long they are).
In ordinary conversations nobody's speech is fluent. The more thought
there is behind what one is saying, the less fluent will be the speech.
Single syllables may be shortened or lengthened (clipped or drawled
respectively); stretches of one utterance may be faster or slower than
normal (allegro, lento), and the change may take place suddenly or
gradually (accelerando, rallentando speech).

12. PHONETICS IN OTHER SCIENCES

1. Interconnection of sciences.
2. Phonetic Stylistics.
3. Phonostylistics.

13.

The sentence is the immediate unit of speech built up
of words according to a definite syntactic pattern &
distinguished by a contextually relevant communicative purpose.
Therefore the primary classification of sentences must
be based on the communicative principle. This
principle is formulated in traditional grammar as the
purpose of communication in acc. with which three
cardinal sentence-types have long been recognized in
linguistics:
I.
The declarative sentence.
II. The imperative (inductive) sentence.
III. The interrogative sentence.

14.

As an independent branch of linguistics, phonetics is
separated from lexicology, grammar and stylistics, but
at the same time there is no denying the
interconnection of all these fields of linguistics, which
can be illustrated through a series of examples.
The example before showed the connection with
syntax.
cat – cats [s]
wolf [f] – wolves [vz]

15.

The system of pronunciation rules related to
grammatical categories shows the connection of
phonetics with grammar:
pronunciation of the third person marker “s”, past and
present tense forms, consonant and vowel interchange
in the nouns of singular / plural number, stating with
the help of intonation the type of a sentence and most
important parts of it.).

16.

In relation to lexicology knowledge of phonetics helps
to distinguish:
- nouns from verbs ('abstract (n) – abs'tract (v));
- compound
words from combinations of words
('blackboard – a 'black 'board);
- homographs (row [rou] a boat – have a row [rau]) and
homophones (knight – night).

17.

What is the difference :
You are a journalist. — You are a journalist?
Plural of :
cat
wolf
mouse
goose
an advice — to advise
bow (лук) — bow (поклон)
a present — to present
???
“Dis way, sir. Dis way, sir. I have just the table for
you, sir, over in de corner. Dis way.”

18.

Connected with stylistic research is:
-
the study of specific types of pronunciation connected
with national identity or social, racial etc.
background of the character, their physical
peculiarities;
-
the study of intonation which expresses the attitude
of the speaker (through speech melody, word and
sentence stress, rhythm, pausation, voice timber).

19. Stylistic phonetics

STYLISTIC PHONETICS

20.

"He had a trick of... emphasizing 'They' as though
the word stood in capitals in his dark mind".
(E. Wallace)
"Diane managed to put the word 'man' into quotes
so that it seemed, to pose a whole series of
crude question marks" (N Monsarrat)
"It's his business to rescue troubled women. Right
now he is working for me. The period on the end
of her last sentence was the size of a baseball".
(E.McBain)

21.

Writing has made primarily audible speech fixed
and visible, which helps man to discover in it
certain properties that could not have been
noticed in fleeting oral discourse.
On the other hand, writing has, in a way, limited
our capacity to evaluate phonetic properties of
texts.
Orthography, especially in languages like English,
practically does not reproduce phonetic
peculiarities of speech, except in cases when
writers resort to 'graphons', i.e. unusual, nonstandard spelling of words, showing either
deviations from Standard English or some
peculiarity in pronouncing words or phrases
emphatically.

22.

23.

Graphons (the intentional violations of the graphical shape
of a word (or word combination) used to reflect its authentic
pronunciation), indicating irregularities or carelessness of
pronunciation were occasionally introduced into English
novels and journalism as early as the beginning of the
eighteenth century and since then have acquired an ever
growing frequency of usage, popularity among writers,
journalists, advertizers, and a continuously widening scope
of functions.

24.

A well-known peculiarity of cockney English is the
pronunciation of the diphthong [ai] instead of [ei].
The corresponding graphon is usually “y” in all positions
where “ai”, or “ay” should be.
This is how John Galsworthy reproduces the speech of one
of the characters of The White Monkey (Tony Bicket): "Is
that my wife?... I see it is, from your fyce... I want the truth I
must 'ave Th... If that's 'er fyce there, then that's 'er body in
the gallery — Aubrey Greene; it's the same nyme. What's it
all mean?"
Note: the change of the diphthong [ei] into [ai] occurs not only in the
speech of uneducated Londoners, but can mark a prominent Australian
accent.

25.

English in its spoken form is the national language in Great
Britain, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and the a part
of the population of Canada.
All English-speaking nations have their own national varieties
of pronunciation which have their peculiarities.
There exists a certain standard pronunciation which is the
elaborated variety of the national language in its spoken form
which obeys definite norms recognized as standard and
acceptable in all types of discourse. It reflects the main
tendencies in pronunciation. It is the pronunciation of
educated people, TV and radio presenters which is recorded in
pronunciation dictionaries as “proper”, “correct”
pronunciation.

26.

Each variety may fall into regional standards. They are usually
grouped into major dialect areas.
A regional standard is a variety of a national standard.
Dialects are varieties that are spoken by a socially limited
number of people or that are characteristic of certain localities.

27. British English (BrE)

BRITISH ENGLISH (BRE)
RP
Northern dialects
Scotch dialect
[æ]
[a:]
[ʌ]
[ə]
[ɒ]
[ɪ]
[eɪ]
[aɪ]
[au]
[eə]
[eu]
[ŋ]
[l]
[w]
[a]
[æ]
[u], [ɒ]
[ʌ]
[ʌ]
[ʌ], [e]
[aɪ], [ɪ]
[aɪ], [ɪ]
[au]
[aə]
[au]
[ŋg]
[a]
[æ]
[ʌ]
[ə]
[ɒ]
[ɪ]
[eɪ]
[aɪ], [ɪ]
[u:]
[er], [ɪr], [u:]
[ŋg]
only dark l
[hw]

28.

O, the Thistle o’ Scotland was famous of auld,
Wi’ its toorie sae snod and its bristles sae bauld;
’Tis the badge o’ my country – it’s aye dear to me;
And the thocht o’ them baith brings the licht to my
e’e.
Its strength and its beauty the storm never harms;
It stan’s on its guard like a warrior in arms;
Yet its down is saft as the gull’s on the sea,
And its tassle as bricht as my Jeanie’s blue e’e.

29.

Graphon is very good at conveying the atmosphere of
authentic live communication, of the informality of the speech
act.
Some amalgamated forms, which are the result of strong
assimilation, became cliches in contemporary prose
dialogue: “gimme” (give me), “lemme” (let me), “gonna”
(going to), “gotta” (got to), “coupla” (couple of), “mighta”
(might have), “willya” (will you), etc.
This flavour of informality and authenticity brought graphon
popularity with advertizers. Big and small eating places invite
customers to attend their “Pik-kwik store”, or “The Donut
(doughnut) Place”, or the “Rite Bread Shop”, or the “Wok-in
Fast Food Restaurant”, etc.

30.

Characterize the following vowels and consonants from the point of view of
their distinctive and non-distinctive features (differentiate the phoneme and
allophone characteristics):
[æ] [i:] [d] [m]
Comment on the allophones of the phonemes:
— [k]:
thick, cat, cask, a black cap;
— [l]: dull, light, lure;
— [p]: park, play, ape, a cold pie.
What is the purpose of the following phonetic variations?
- Then the Australian guy, Dan, who lives below me, opened his window.
“Oy, Bridgid,” he shouted. “There’s water pouring through me ceiling.”
Then Dan appeared in the hall. “Chrisd,” he said. “You’d biddah have
one of these.” (H. Fielding)
- “Just going to the ladies,” I said through clenched teeth like a
ventriloquist keeping my face fixed, to reduce the appearance of
wrinkles.
“Are you all right, Bridge?” said June.
“Fn,” I replied stiffly. (H. Fielding)

31.

Graphical changes may reflect not only the peculiarities of,
pronunciation, but are also used to convey the intensity of
the stress, emphasizing and thus foregrounding the
stressed words.
To such purely graphical means, not involving the
violations, refer all changes of the type (italics, bold type,
CAPITALIZATION), spacing of graphemes (hyphenation,
multiplication) and of lines.
The latter was widely exercised in Russian poetry by
V.Mayakovsky, famous for his “steps” in verse lines. In
English the most often referred to “graphical imagist” was
E.E. Cummings.

32.

Types of print:
Bold type
Italics
CAPITALIZATION / Capitalization
Hy-phe-na-tion
S p a c e d
l e t t e r s
M-m-multiplication
They are used to indicate the additional stress of the
emphasized word or part of the word.

33. Phonetic stylistic means

PHONETIC STYLISTIC MEANS
- of personage’s characterisation
- author’s expressive means

34.

Poetry abounds in some specific types
instrumenting, the leading role belonging to
of
sound-
alliteration — the repetition of consonants,
and assonance — the repetition of similar vowels, usually
in stressed syllables.
They both may produce the effect of euphony (a sense of
ease and comfort in pronouncing or hearing) or cacophony
(a sense of strain and discomfort in pronouncing or hearing).

35.

Alliteration
a phonetic stylistic device which aims at imparting a meloding effect to
the utterance.
Alliteration is the repetition of similar sounds of particular consonant
sounds in close succession mostly at the beginning of successive words:
- The possessive instinct never stands still. [s]
- Secret and self-contained and solitary as an oyster. (Ch. Dickens.) [s]
- Through florescence and feud, frosts and fires it follows the laws of
progression. [f]
- Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream
before. (E. Poe.) [d]

36.

Alliteration is a musical accompaniment of the author’s idea
supporting it with some vague emotional atmosphere which
the reader interprets for himself.
Alliteration has shown remarkable continuity as a structural
device of old English poems and folklore in general.
It is frequently used as a well-tested means in verse in
emotive prose and in newspaper headlines in the titles of
books, in idioms, proverbs and sayings:
Tit for tat (зуб за зуб); It’s neck or nothing (Либо пан, либо
пропал);
Sense and sensibility; Pride and Prejudice; school for
scandal;

37.

Even devoid of denotational or connotational meaning, a
phoneme, according to recent studies, has a strong
associative and sound-instrumenting power.
Just imitating the sounds of nature, man, inanimate objects,
the acoustic form of the word inevitably emphasizing its
meaning too.
Onomatopoeia (звукоподражание) – a sound imitation. It’s
a combination of speech sounds which aims at imitating
sounds produced in nature (wind, sea, thunder), by things
(machines or tools), by people (sighing, singing) and by
animals.

38.

There are two varieties of onomatopoeia: direct and indirect.
Direct onomatopoeia is found in words that only imitate
natural sounds: cuckoo, buzz, meow, roar, etc.
Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds aiming
at making sounds of the utterance, an echo of its sense. It’s
sometimes called echo-writing. As an example may serve
the famous lines of E. A. Poe:
…silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain…
The repetition of the sound [s] actually produces the sound
of the rustling of the curtain.
«И шёлковый, печальный, неуверенный, Шорох каждой
пурпурной шторы» (E.A.Poe).

39. Phonostylistics

PHONOSTYLISTICS

40. Segmental phonetics: official vs non-official speech

SEGMENTAL PHONETICS: OFFICIAL VS NON-OFFICIAL SPEECH
A binary opposition of official and non-official communication.
Official
Non-official
Vowels
Full distinct pronunciation (they preserve
qualitative-quantitative features)
Reduction of monophthongs, diphthongs
may lose their glides, the nucleus can be
reduced (in unstressed positions)
Consonants
They preserve their distinctive and nondistinctive features:
1) Voiced consonants are fully voiced
between vowels, a vowel and a sonorant or
when followed / preceded by a voiceless
consonant.
2) Very often in case of 2 plosives 2
plosions are preserved.
1) In case of voiced consonants there is a
tendency to devoice them, especially when
they are followed by a voiceless consonant.
2) In case of 2 plosives there is only 1
plosion of the second consonant or the
elision of it.

41. Segmental phonetics: official vs non-official speech

SEGMENTAL PHONETICS: OFFICIAL VS NON-OFFICIAL SPEECH
A binary opposition of official and non-official communication.
Official
Non-official
Assimilation: absolutely specific
1) But you [bəd ju]
2) Friend [f+rend] dry [d+raɪ ]
1) But you [bə ju] [bətʃ ju]
2) Friend [f(r)end] dry [d(r)aɪ ]
Assimilation: relatively specific
At the – dental t, n, l, z, d, s
[t + j] / [d + j] = tʃ, dʒ
Assimilation: neutral
[kwaɪt], [swɪm]
The reduction of vowels in unstressed syllables

42. Intonational style

INTONATIONAL STYLE
Intonational style is a system of interrelated intonational means which is used in
a certain social sphere and serves a definite aim in communication.
The following intonational styles are distinguished:
informational (formal)
scientific
declamatory
publicistic
familiar (conversational)
Intonational styles are singled out on the basis of 3 types of information
present in communication:
1) intellectual
2) emotional (attitudinal / modal)
3) volitional (desiderative)

43. Types of information: intonation

TYPES OF INFORMATION: INTONATION
Intellectual:
Distinct segmental realization; regular rhythm; practically no hesitation pauses; no
repetitions; syntactic pauses; the nucleus is usually the last stressed syllable;
normal or slow tempo; falling tones (tone-group 2).
Emotional and attitudinal:
Different variations of pitch and tones (depending on the attitude); hesitation
pauses; tempo and rhythm vary; the nucleus may not be the last stressed
syllable.
Volitional:
Many emphatic stresses; emphatic pauses; normal or slow tempo; falling tones.

44. Intonational style

INTONATIONAL STYLE
Informational (formal) style:
Predominant use of intellectual intonation patterns; no emotional or volitional
evaluation; the aim is to convey information (e.g. TV or radio announcers)
Scientific (academic) style:
Intellectual and volitional intonation patterns (e.g. university lecturers, teachers,
scientists).
Declamatory style:
Emotional intonation is present; an equal share of intellectual, volitional and
emotional intonation patterns; the aim is to appeal to the mind, will and feelings
(e.g. stage speech, classroom recitation, etc.)
Publicistic style:
Volitional intonation patterns prevail (e.g. politicians, participants of press
conferences; judges, etc.)
Familiar (conversational) style:
Within a family group, between intimate friends. Emotional and attitudinal patterns
prevail.

45.

Informational (formal) style
This style is characterized by predominant use of intellectual
intonation patterns; no emotional or volitional evaluation is
required since the aim is to convey information. This is the most
neutral among styles, which is employed in educational
descriptive narratives, press reporting and broadcasting.
When prepared texts are delivered in this style loudness is stable
or normal, diminishing towards the end of the passage. The rate of
speech does not vary greatly, the tempo is marked as moderato,
pauses are not prolonged, rhythm is organized properly. Special
attention (accent) is placed on the most important semantic centers
of the passages (singling out the main ideas). Such terminal tones
as falling, mid-level and low rising are common. There are no
great contrasts between accented and unaccented segments of
phrases.

46.

Scientific (academic) style
This style characterises lectures, scientific discussion, conferences,
classes to entertain. It is used to deliver this message to the
audience, to establish a contact with the listeners – thus
intellectual and volitional intonation patterns are combined. The
speaker must sound self-assured, authoritative, instructive.
Terminal tones are compound, there is a great number of high
categoric falls, the contrast between accented and non-accented
segments is noticeable, but non-accented segments are clearly
understood as well. Loudness may be increased, sometimes
strongly, pauses may be prolonged, rhythm is organized properly
(the acoustic impression of rhythmicality is present), especially
while giving the rules, reading them, drawing conclusions.

47.

Publicistic style
Speech of this kind is always prepared. The aim of the speaker is
to persuade and influence the audience, thus volitional intonation
patterns prevail (e.g. politicians, participants of press conferences;
judges, etc.). To achieve this aim all tricks which are based on
numerous contrasts in all prosodic features are used. There are
great contrasts of pitch, loudness, tempo and timbre. The clarity
of articulation is very strong; every sound must be distinct,
together with dignified slow tempo, sonority and resonance, strict
rhythm.
Sometimes if one of the aims of the speaker is to entertain his
listeners he can combine publicistic style with declamatory.
informational and conversational.

48.

Declamatory style
The aim of the speaker is to engage the audience, to appeal to the
mind, will and feelings, as a result an equal share of intellectual,
volitional and emotional intonation patterns are employed. It
mostly concerns theatrical activities, screen productions, TV and
all sorts of recitations.
Though speech on the stage seeks to be familiar but spectators
perceive it as a bit artificial, exaggerated. Such prosodic elements
as loudness, rate and voice diapason are immediately felt as
"theatrical", artificial. Much depends on the kind of theatrical
performance – melodrama, comedy, tragedy, whether the play
belongs to the past, present, on the characters which play there.

49.

Familiar (conversational) style
This style is very frequent in everyday speech. It is often called
informal, as it is used within a family group, between intimate
friends. Emotional and attitudinal patterns prevail in it since
everyday conversations mostly center around sharing emotions of
dealing with promises and requests.
The speakers are comparatively free. They do not control their
linguistic behavior; they sound natural, use non-standard forms of
speech. Much depends on their social background, social status.
This kind of speech greatly depends on the situation and the
complex study of conversational style is important from the
didactic point of view.

50.

From the stylistic angle phonetics aims to study the way phonetic
means are used in this or that particular situation under the
influence of a set of factors, which are referred to as
extralinguistic.
Most common of these extralinguistic factors are:
- the form of communication (monologue or dialogue);
- the speaker’s attitude to the situation (emotions, thoughts, etc);
- the degree of formality (official or unofficial communication);
- the degree of spontaneity or of preparedness;
- the speaker’s educational, social, professional background.